ecliptic 
ecliptic to the equinoctial. Its mean value for A. r>. 1900 
is 23' 27' 8". 
Satan . . . 
Took leave ; and toward the coast of earth beneath, 
Down from the ecliptic sped. Milton, P. L., iii. 740. 
My lady's Indian kinsman, unannounced, 
With half a score of swarthy faces came. 
His own, tho' keen and bold and soldierly, 
Sear'd by the close ecliptic, was not fair. 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
2. A great circle drawn upon a terrestrial globe, 
tangent to the tropics. It is sometimes said to " mark 
the sun's annual path across the surface of the earth" ; 
but since its plane is represented as fixed upon the earth, 
the rotation of the latter will give it a gyratory motion in- 
compatible with its representing any celestial appearance. 
It may, however, prove convenient when a terrestrial globe 
is used instead of a celestial one. 
eclog. n. An abbreviated spelling of eclogue. 
ecloglte (ek'lo-jit), n. [< Gr. ciAoypf, picked 
out (< ;Ay(v,'pick out, choose), + -zfe 2 .] The 
name given by Hatty to a rock consisting of 
a crystalline-granular aggregate of omphacite 
(a granular, grass-green variety of pyroxene) 
with red garnet. With these essential constituents 
cyanite (disthene) is often associated, and, less commonly, 
silvery mica, quartz, and pyrites. This is one of the most 
beautiful of rocks, and of rather rare occurrence. It is 
found in the Alps, in the Fichtelgebirge in Bavaria, in the 
Erzgebirge in Bohemia, and also in Norway. It occurs in 
lenticular masses in the older gneisses and schists. To the 
variety occurring at Syra in Greece, consisting largely of 
cyanite or disthene, the name cyanite rock or diithene rock 
has been given. Also spelled eklogite. 
eclogue (ek'log), . [Early mod. E. also eclog, 
and eglogue, (eglogue; = F. eglogue, eclogue, now 
eglogue, Eclogue = Sp. ecloga = Pg. egloga = It. 
egloga, ecloga = G. ekloge = Dan. Sw. eJclog, < 
L. ecloga, < Gr. eiAoyr/, a selection, esp. of poems, 
"elegant extracts" (of. e/c/loyof, picked out), 
< eate-yeiv, pick out, select, < CK, out, + Myetv, 
pick, choose ; cf. eclectic. The term came to be 
applied esp. to a collection of pastoral poems 
(with special ref. to Virgil's pastoral poems 
(Bucolica), which were published under the 
title of Eelogce, ' selections '), whence the false 
spellings eglogue, ceglogue (P. eglogue, etc.), in 
an endeavor to bring in the pastoral associa- 
tions of Gr. aif (aiy-), a goat.] In poetry, a 
pastoral composition, in which shepherds are 
introduced conversing with one another; a 
bucolic : as, the eclogues of Virgil. 
Some be of opinion, and the chiefe of those who haue 
written in this Art among the Latines, that the pastorall 
Poesie which we commonly call by the name of Eglogue 
and Bucolick, a tearme brought in by the Sicilian Poets, 
should be the flrst of any other. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 30. 
eclosion (e-klo'zhon), n. [< F. felosion, < Solos-, 
stem of certain parts of eclore, emerge from the 
egg, < L. excludere, shut out : see exclude, exclu- 
sion, and cf . close 1 , cZose 2 .] The act of emerging 
from a covering or concealment; specifically, 
in entom., the escape of an insect from the pupa- 
or chrysalis-case. 
eclysis (ek'li-sis), n. [< Gr. titivatf, a lowering 
of the voice through three quarter-tones, a re- 
lease or deliverance, < eKhiictv, release, < ex., out, 
+ 'Mietv, loose.] In Gr. music, the lowering or 
flatting of a tone : opposed to ecbole. 
ecod (e-kod'), interj. [One of the numerous 
variations, as egad, begad, bedad, etc., of the 
oath by God.] By God; egad: a minced oath. 
[Now rare.] 
Ecod, you're in the right of it. 
Sheridan (?), The Camp, i. 1. 
Ecod ! how the wind blows ! what a grand time we shall 
have ! S. ,/mlii. Margaret, i. 14. 
econome (ek'o-nom), n. [= F. eeonome = Sp. 
ecdnomo = Pg. It. economo, steward, financial 
manager, = D. econoom = G. okonom, husband- 
man, steward, = Dan. okonom = Sw. elconom (D. 
and Sw. afterF.),<LL. ceconomus,<. Gr. o'uanri/Mf, 
a housekeeper : see economy."] 1. In the early 
church, a diocesan administrator; the curator, 
administrator, and dispenser, under the bishop, 
of the diocesan property and revenues. 2. In 
the early and in the medieval church, and to 
the present day in the Greek Church, the finan- 
cial officer and steward of a monastery. 
Also oeconome and cecononms. 
economic (e-ko- or ek-o-nom'ik), a. [Former- 
ly also economick, (economic, ceconomick, ceco- 
nomique; = F. economique = Sp. econdmieo = 
Pg. It. economico (cf. D. economisch = G. o'ko- 
nomisch = Dan. okonomisk = Sw. ekonomisK), < 
L. ceconomicus, < Gr. oiKwo/Micof, pertaining to 
the management of a household or family, 
practised therein, frugal, thrifty, < oiitavofiia, the 
management of a household: see economy. ~\ 
If. Relating or pertaining to the household ; 
1836 
domestic. 2. Pertaining to the regulation of 
household concerns. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
And doth employ her economic art, 
And busy care, her household to preserve. 
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul. 
3. Pertaining to pecuniary means or concerns ; 
relating to or connected with income and ex- 
penditure : as, his economic management was 
bad; ho was restrained by economic consider- 
ations ; the economic branches of government. 
4. Of or pertaining to economics, or the pro- 
duction, distribution, and use of wealth ; relat- 
ing to the means of living, or to the arts by 
which human needs and comforts are supplied: 
as, an economic problem; economic disturb- 
ances ; economic geology or botany. 
The economic ruin of Spain may be said to date from 
the expulsion of the lloriscoes. 
J. Fiske, Evolutionist, p. 245. 
5. Characterized by freedom from wastefulness, 
extravagance, or excess ; frugal; saving; spar- 
ing: as, economic use of money or of material. 
[In this sense more commonly economical.] 
The charitable few are chiefly they 
Whom Fortune places in the middle way ; 
Just rich enough, with economic care, 
To save a pittance, and a pittance spare. 
Harte, Eulogius. 
= Syn. 5. Saving, sparing, careful, thrifty, provident 
economical (e-ko- or ek-o-nom'i-kal), a. [< 
economic + -al.']' Same as economic. The form 
economical is more common than economic in sense 5. 
This economical misfortune [of ill-assorted matrimony]. 
Milton, Divorce. 
There was no economical distress in England to prompt 
the enterprises of colonization. Palfrey. 
But the economical and moral causes that were destroy- 
ing agriculture in Italy were too strong to be resisted. 
Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 284. 
The life of the well-off people is graceful, pretty, dain- 
tily-ordered, hospitable ; but it has a simplicity which in- 
cidentally makes it comparatively economical. 
Arch. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 68. 
economically (e-ko- or ek-o-nom'i-kal-i), adv. 
1. As regards the production, distribution, and 
use of wealth ; as regards the means by which 
human needs and comforts are supplied. 2. 
With economy; with frugality or moderation. 
economics (e-ko- or ek-o-nom'iks), n. [For- 
merly also economicks; pi. of economic (see 
-ics), after Gr. TO. oMovofuKa, neut. pi. (also fern, 
sing. fi OMOVOIUKIJ, sc. T^D?, art), the art of house- 
hold management.] 1. The science of house- 
hold or domestic management. [Obsolete or 
archaic.] 2. The science which treats of 
wealth, its production, distribution, etc.; po- 
litical economy. 
The best authors have chosen rather to handle it [edu- 
cation] in their politicks than in their aeconomicks. 
Sir H. Wotton, Reliquiie, p. 78. 
Not only in science, but in politicks and economics, in 
the less splendid arts which administer to convenience 
and enjoyment, much information may be derived, by 
careful search, from times which have been in general 
neglected, as affording nothing to repay the labour of at- 
tention. V. Knox, Essays, No. 73. 
Among minor alterations, I may mention the substitu- 
tion for the name of Political Economy of the single conve- 
nient term Economic*. Jeoons, Pol. Econ. (2d ed.), Pref. 
economisation, economise, etc. See economi- 
sation, etc. 
economist (e-kon'o-mist), n. [Formerly also 
(economist; = F. economiste = Sp. Pg. It. econo- 
mista; as economy + -ist.~] 1. One who man- 
ages pecuniary or other resources; a manager 
in general, with reference to means and ex- 
penditure or outlay. 
Very few people are good (Economists of their fortune, 
and still fewer of their time. Chesterfield, Letters, ccxvi. 
It would be ... madness to expect happiness from one 
who has been so very bad an economist of his own. 
Goldsmith, Vicar, xiii. 
Ferdinand was too severe an economist of time to waste 
it willingly on idle pomp and ceremonial. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 19. 
Specifically 2. A careful or prudent manager 
of pecuniary means ; one who practises frugal- 
ity in expenditure : as, he has the reputation 
of being an economist; he is a rigid economist. 
3. One versed in economics, orthe science of 
economy 
Economite (e-kon'o-mit), n. [As economy + 
-te 2 .] Same as Harmonist, 4. 
economization (e-kon // o-mi-za'shon), n. [< 
economize + -ation.~\ The act or practice of 
economizing, or managing frugally or to the 
best effect ; the result of economizing ; econ- 
omy; saving. Also spelled economisation. 
[Rare.] 
To the extent that augmentation of mass results in a 
greater retention of heat, it effects an economization of 
force. //. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., 47. 
economize (e-kon'o-miz), v. ; pret. and pp. 
economized, ppr. economizing. [= F. economi- 
ser = Sp. economizar = Pg. econotnisar = It. eco- 
nomizzare = D. economiseren = G. okonomisi- 
ren = Dan. okonomisere; as economy + -ize.'} I. 
trans. To manage economically; practise econ- 
omy in regard to ; treat savingly or sparingly : 
as, to economize one's means or strength; he 
economized his expenses. 
To manage and economize the use of circulating me- 
dium. Walsh. 
II. intrans. To practise economy; avoid 
waste, extravagance, or excess ; be sparing in 
outlay : as, to economize in one's housekeeping, 
or in the expenditure of energy. 
He does not know how to economize. 
Smart. 
political economy. 
So well known an English economist as Malthus has also 
shown in a few lines his complete appreciation of the 
mathematical nature of economic questions. 
Jeoons, Pol. Econ. (2d ed.), Pref. 
4. An officer in some cathedrals of the Church 
of Ireland who is appointed by the chapter to 
manage the cathedral fund, to see to the neces- 
sary repairs, pay the church officers, etc. 
Economist mouse, Arvicola ceconomua, a Siberian vole. 
Also spelled economise. 
economizer (e-kon'6-ml-zer), n. 1. One who 
economizes; 'one w*ho uses money, material, 
time, etc., economically or sparingly. 2. In 
engin., an apparatus by which economy, as of 
fuel, is effected ; specifically, one in which waste 
heat from a boiler or furnace is utilized for 
heating the feed-water. 
Also spelled economiser. 
economy (e-kon'o-mi), n. ; pi. economies (-miz). 
[Formerly also economic, (economy, (economic ; 
= F. economic = Sp. economia = Pg. It. econo- 
mia == D. economic = G. okonomie = Dan. oko- 
nomi = Sw. ekonomi (D. and Sw. after F.), < L. 
osconomia. ( Gr. oiKovofiia, the management of a 
household or family, or of the state, the public 
revenue, < o!Kovo/>f, one who manages a house- 
hold, a manager, administrator, <okof, a house, 
household (= L. vicus, a village, > ult. E. wick, 
wicli, a village, etc. : see wick*), + vtjitiv, deal 
out, distribute, manage : see nome 1 .] 1. The 
management, regulation, or supervision of 
means or resources; especially, the manage- 
ment of the pecuniary or other concerns of a 
household : as, you are practising bad economy ; 
their domestic economy needs reform. 
Fain. He keeps open house for all comers. 
Wid. He ought to be very rich, whose oeconomy is so 
profuse. Mrs. Centlivre, The Artifice, iv. 
Hence 2. A frugal and judicious use of 
money, material, time, etc. ; the avoidance of 
or freedom from waste or extravagance in the 
management or use of anything ; frugality in 
the expenditure or consumption of money, ma- 
terials, etc. 
I have no other notion of economy than that it is the 
parent of liberty and ease. Swift, To Lord Bolingbroke. 
Nature, with a perfect economy, turns all forces to ac- 
count. S. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 388. 
Another principle that serves to throw light on our in- 
quiry is that which has been called the principle of econ- 
omy, viz., that an effect is pleasing in proportion as it is 
attained by little effort and simple means. 
J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 70. 
3. Management, order, or arrangement in gen- 
eral; the disposition or regulation of the parts 
or functions of any organic whole ; an organ- 
ized system or method : as, the internal economy 
of a nation; the economy of the work is out of 
joint. 
This economy must be observed in the minutest parts of 
an epic poem. Dryden, jEneid, Ded. 
If we rightly examine things, we shall find that there 
is a sort of economy in providence, that one shall excel 
where another is defective, in order to make men more use- 
ful to each other, and mix them in society. 
Steele, Taller, No. 92. 
Specifically (a) The provisions of nature for the genera- 
tion, nutrition, and preservation of animals and plants ; 
the regular, harmonious system in accordance with which 
the functions of living animals and plants are performed : 
as, the animal economy ; the vegetable econom;/. 
He who hunts 
Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong, 
Disturbs the economy of nature's realm. 
COW/XT, Task, vi. 577. 
If we forget, for au instant, that each species tends to 
increase inordinately, and that some check is always in 
action, yet seldom perceived by us, the whole economy of 
Nature will be utterly obscured. 
Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 303. 
(6) The functional organization of a living body : as, his 
internal economy is badly deranged. 
